This invention relates in general to a pressure washer and in particular to a pressure washer for coupling to an engine with a vertical or horizontal drive shaft.
The majority of high pressure washers purchased by consumers are horizontally oriented systems. This is because conventional motors used in high pressure systems must typically be associated with gear reducers or shaft sleeves in order to efficiently operate the pump using a rotating motor drive shaft. This makes the pump system quite long and, therefore, awkward for vertical mounting.
However, small, reliable high pressure vertical shaft pressure washers are gaining popularity among consumers. They are useful for a variety of purposes, such as washing automobiles and home sidings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,584 to Mazzucato et al. discloses a vertically oriented high pressure water pump system. The system includes a vertically oriented motor, an intermediate flange and an axial drive water pump. The intermediate flange vertically unites the motor and the high pressure water pump and further includes an axial thrust bearing and a thrust bearing sleeve for coupling the motor drive shaft in the axial drive pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,414 to Steinhart et al. discloses an apparatus for coupling a vertically oriented internal combustion engine to an axial piston pump for use with pressure washers. Attached to the lower surface of the engines is a circular flange with inwardly extending ribs which supports a pump attachment unit. The pump attachment unit is comprised of a series of concentric annular rings for an oil seal and thrust bearing and for pump attachment. The pump drive shaft slides over and is keyed to the engine drive shaft and has an annular lip for mating with the thrust bearing. The pump wobble plate is bolted to the lower end of the pump drive shaft.
However, the above-mentioned pressure washers are relatively complex in design and expensive to manufacture.